Two reporters from the United States, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, have been sentenced to twelve years in a North Korea Labor Camp. Read more on Euna Lee and Laura Ling below.

Laura Ling, sister to ex “The View” co-host Lisa Ling and her colleague, Euna Lee, were convicted of “grave crimes against the country.” The trial lasted five days in North Korea’s highest court, which means the two women cannot appeal the ruling. .

Lee and Ling allegedly crossed into North Korea illegally, but their true wrong-doing has been unclear since their arrests March 17.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee had been working in China for former Vice President Al Gore’s Current TV and were reporting on the international trafficking of women. Some people reportedly believed that the women did not cross over to North Korea on their own accord, but were abducted and taken across the border.

“I hope that we are able to communicate to them our deep, deep apology for whatever may have happened on that border,” Lisa said at a candlelight vigil last week in Santa Monica, California. “If at any point the girls did cross into North Korea then we are so sorry and we beg the North Korean government to allow the girls to come home to their families.”